Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Pinterest Peeves


This picture has nothing to do with this post. I just like that Penn was sneaking into the background.

There are a few things that have been irritating me and all of them have to do with Pinterest (big surprise).

1. Whoever started posting the 27 picture long pin needs to be punished.  It takes all day to scroll through some stupid montage of pictures that show stupid and useless cleaning tips.  Sure they might be good tips, but if you are too lazy to check out the website for all the tips then you probably aren't using them anyway.  Add to that the super long pin written in Japanese.  Please, stop perpetuating the obscenely long pin.

2. What's worse than that? The empty pin. If I find a pin that interests me, I always click to the website to check out the original post.  Many times the website is gone, or the link goes nowhere.  The best part is I see the pin being repinned again and again.

3. Or how about the faulty pin?  You know the one.  It promises all the Insanity and P90X workouts for free all in one place.  Guess what? That link got shut down for copyright issues.  What? You actually have to buy the CDs to get the workouts? I guess I should have checked the website before repinning...

4. And finally, I hate when I click over to a website to find that the tutorial/tip/technique is only referred to via a link.  In other words the pin is from a secondary source that only cites the primary source.  That secondary source is basking in webtraffic for someone elses idea and I think that is tacky.  If you used someones tutorial then you should pin the original-- not your result.  Make sense?

For all you fellow pinners out there, let it be known I am now taking it upon myself to be the Pinterest police.


As a side note... Ever since I signed up for Pinterest I've been wanting to post a picture of Kevin Bacon, have my followers pin the picture, then have their followers pin it, and so on until it comes back to me from someone I don't know.  Would it only be six degrees I wonder?

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful...

I am a little sad.  I just cancelled our Sirius/XM account effective immediately.  Do you know what that means? No more Radio Disney for the kids on the way to school.  But really it means no more three stations of NPR for my listening pleasure. It's ok because I am a little addicted to the Adam Corolla podcast (warning: explicit).

Speaking of NPR, I was listening to a "news" story about how our perception of others has changed as a result of social media.  The experts were saying that there is a delicate balance between updating your status with good news and bragging.  Most of your well-intentioned status updates, tweets, and good old fashioned blog entries are perceived by others as bragging.  Your friends get irritated and exhausted when they have to read one more entry about your perfect husband (we get it, he's your best friend), your super cute kids (mine are cuter), your professional achievements (so you're good at your job, who cares), your latest DIY decorating miracle (it looked better on Pinterest), or the marathon you run every morning in record time (that means nothing to me). They're just jealous.

It's a tricky thing though because, as the experts pointed out, you don't want to complain too much either.  No one wants to hear about your good-for-nothing husband, your ugly kids, how much you hate your job, your lack of style, and your lazy attitude. I had to kind of make some of those up, since I don't see as much complaining on social media.  Maybe I don't see it as much because I am the expert complainer.  That's right, I'm bragging about my ability to complain.

I have been thinking about this premise as it relates to choosing a profile picture.  As I get older, and believe me I have aged exponentially in the last few years, I am realizing that not every picture of me is flattering.  In fact, finding a suitable profile picture has become nearly impossible.  Plus, you don't want to choose one that looks overtly glamorous or posed.  In other words, I don't want to make other people feel bad when they look at my perfect profile picture, but I also don't want them to feel sorry for me because the years haven't been kind. 

Here are a few to choose from: